Sweet Grass Hills

Today I finally went around town to take pictures of small town USA of Shelby, MT. I had time to kill until I went hopping around the Sweet Grass Hills with Victoria and Greg. I posted them on facebook, so I'm sure if you follow me on here, then you are probably on there too! If not, e-mail me and I can send some pics to you. It was cool driving around town today, going places I've never been.


The Sweet Grass Hills are to the North of Shelby, near the Canadian border. You can see them starting just outside of Great Falls. That's one thing I've noticed about North Central Montana. It's very flat in most places where you can see landmarks for miles and miles. The Rockies are easy to see to the West due to the massiveness of them, even though they are 100 miles away!


Now, I didn't go up the mountain, but I got really close to the base in my car. Victoria was sitting beside me in the passenger seat underneath my parka (it was warm in Shelby, so she didn't bring a coat and it was chilly up near the mountain), while Greg was taking pictures with his awesome Nokia professional camera, bending in awkward positions to get the best pictures. I was a little sad and whistful that my OLD digital camera doesn't have a zoom. I'm seriously thinking of buying a nice new one!


We saw many of God's lovely creatures on this ride through the mountains. Many mule deer, antelope, black angus cows, birds, sheep, and geese. We even saw two bald eagles just sitting on top of a hill together.


I now see why my friend Jeremy calls us Flatlanders. The ride past the mountains and back down toward US Highway 2, was FLAT. Shelby has lots of hills around it and is set in a Coulee (a term I just learned today!), while the surrounding area to the east and just north is very flat. This makes it easy to see windfarms that are 30-40 miles away.


I can't wait for my next adventure!


Some pics:




The bustling town of Shelby, MT looking North form atop the hill with West Butte way in the background.






Some Black Angus cow babies I couldn't resist!



This is West Butte. It's pronounced 'beaut' as in beaut-i-ful not butt!

Planet Earth

Yesterday, I attempted to go skiing for the first time in my life. It was a disaster!!!! I didn't even make it to the bunny hill. Oh, well. Skiing is not for me!

After skiing, I went to my friend Jeremy's house to watch Planet Earth. It was incredible! There was this freaky bird that looked like a neon monster when it was puffed up. Being able to see predators on the hunt was facinating. Although I do not like hyenas, it was kind of cool how they have strategies while hunting.

p.d.

It's 71 degrees outside right now! This weather is unbelieveable! I've actually had my windows open to the breeze for the past 3 days. Lana is loving it, unless she gets her long claws caught in the screen! I really should trim those.

One thing out in abundance are prairie dogs. Yes, prairie dogs. It actually a sport here in Montana... Gopher hunting! the p.d.'s are all over. They are fast little buggers too.

Cacti

I took some pictures today that I wanted to share with you, but I seem to have misplaced my transfer cord.

Anyway, everyone at the alternative school went for a walk today for PE class. This walk started at the school, went through the campgrounds near Lake Shel-loole, up the dam next to the water, up another hill to a dirt trail, winding down a non-trail near a fence line, up another hill that was rather MUDDY, then down the road back to the school. First, I'm not used to walking long distances anymore. Second, the hills here are steeper than anywhere I've been before. Third, it was MUDDY. While trying to walk up the last hill, I had to try to claw my way up it because my sneakers have no tread in the MUD. Unsuccessfully, I slipped and fell down the hill on my backside in the MUD. I went down the hill and tried to walk along the fence line that was at the bottom. There was ice and MUD. About 1/3 of the way through, I fell again in the MUD. At this point, I was half under the fence line. Instead of trying to fight my way through the MUD again, I slid on through under the fence line and walked on the flat ground.

I'm glad I live so close to the school because I went home to clean up and change. Now I have scrapes and stuff on my hands and legs!

Boy was it fun!

P.S. I had my first experience with cacti today. I didn't even know that cacti grew in Montana!

Iditarod

I've realized that when I lived in NY, I knew way more about the Eastern US than the Western. Since coming to Montana, I've already regained and gained alot of history that I either forgot from school, or was never taught. The information that has been regained, is fascinating. I know a lot more about Canada than I have ever known, thanks in part to Dallas, my friend and co-worker who is proud of her Canadian roots. Even Alaska has become a great point of interest for me since I'm closer than I've ever been. Don't get me wrong; I do realize that Alaska is still thousands of miles away!

I found out that the Iditarod is starting within minutes up in Anchorage. Knowing that 5 mushers out of Montana are racing gives me a sense of pride even though I've only been here for a limited time. I always gave dog sledding a passing thought, but never went in-depth before in gathering information. That has changed since moving here. I watched the movie 'Snow Dogs' this morning and actually knew the terms and what they were talking about!

FYI: There is a musher out of Jamaica racing today! Jamaica?!?! It reminds me of 'Cool Runnings'. ;-)